North: Finding My Way While Running the Appalachian Trail
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4.3 • 6 Ratings
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- $16.99
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
2,200 miles.
47 days.
One remarkable journey.
In July 2015, ultramarathon legend Scott Jurek smashed the world record for running the Appalachian Trail, the sprawling mountain path that runs nearly the entire length of the United States. For nearly seven weeks straight, Jurek battled the elements to run, hike and stumble 50 miles every single day.
A tale of mind-boggling physical exertion, pressure and endurance, North reveals the extraordinary lengths to which we can push our bodies and our minds.
Instant New York Times Bestseller
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‘Pure suspense, adventure, and inspiration . . . His story of plunging into the wilderness in pursuit of a dream is both heartwrenching and spellbinding.’ Christopher McDougall, author of Born to Run
‘Probably America’s greatest ever ultrarunner.’
Guardian
‘Scott Jurek’s record-setting journey on the Appalachian Trail was the most punishing, most demanding, most gruelling feat I’ve ever personally witnessed . . . An immersive and engaging book.’ Aron Ralston, author of 127 Hours
‘I’m a huge fan . . . North is tremendous.’
Vassos Alexander, BBC Radio 2
‘Undoubtedly the greatest ultrarunner of his generation.’
Independent
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Ultramarathoner Jurek (Eat & Run) shares the grueling story of his quest to run the Appalachian Trail "2,189 miles while climbing and descending a million vertical feet" faster than anyone before him. Much of the power in Jurek's writing comes from his honesty about his limitations and how his expectations have changed as he's aged: "I'm forty and I need to feel what it's like to go to the edge again and go further." As he moves north from Georgia to his destination in Maine over the course of six weeks, Jurek details the "tug-of-war between me and my younger self," as he deals with fatigue, injury, hunger, and various well-wishers he meets on the way who often slow him down. His writing evokes the terrain: he feels as "free as the grassy fields rolling beneath me out to the Blue Ridge horizon"; while running in stormy weather, he "ran into mud pits unlike anything I had ever seen." His wife, Jenny, who accompanied him for the entire journey in a black cargo van converted into a "home on wheels," contributes passages throughout. Jurek's exciting narrative presents the pain and joys of ultra-running at the end of a long and successful running career.
